Immigration reform would help Illinois agriculture

When the subject of immigration reform is raised, visions of border guards and barb wire fences come to mind — not Illinois agriculture.

But the state would gain if the U.S. House would pass the bill, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a conference call Wednesday that included Illinois Farm Bureau president Richard Guebert and Chenoa dairy farmer Mark Erdman.

A White House report that the elimination of immigrant labor in Illinois would cause between $46 million and $83 million in short-term farm losses. Vilsack likened the situation with the immigration to the Farm Bill, passed in the Senate a year before finally being passed in the House. The Senate passed an immigration reform bill last year.

“The time is now for the House to get this done,” said Vilsack, pointing to numerous benefits from the passage of an immigration bill: reducing the national deficit, boosting rural economies, helping small business while insuring the nation’s food security and availability.

Erdman also called on Congress to adopt immigration reform. “I need labor help to milk cows,” he said.

Erdman said that local people he’d hired in the past weren’t as reliable as Hispanic workers he’s employed. “I had one Hispanic worker who worked for me for three years but he can’t get a visa to return. We need reform so that good people can come back and work,” he said.

Vilsack reiterated that American citizens would get first consideration on any job and that immigrants who entered the country illegally were not getting off “scot-free.”

“Those immigrants would go to the back of the line and work their way the system. In the meantime, they’d have the ability to work here and visit their families in a legal way,” he said.

Author: Steve Tarter

Born in England, raised in Boston, I'm a Midwestern transplant who's called Peoria home for the past 40 years. Married with four grown children, I enjoy journalism, film noir and radio drama. As the song goes, I like coffee; I like tea. Former president of the Apollo Theater in Downtown Peoria, I'm looking for a new raison d'etre.
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